Archives for April 2009

ICv2 lists Diamond’s top 300 graphic novels for March, and manga makes a pretty respectable showing, accounting for one-fifth of the titles and four of the top ten sellers, which is unusual. The thing that always interests me about these charts is that they give the total number of copies sold (and remember, comics stores can’t return comics they get through Diamond, so these are final sales, albeit at a deep discount). ICv2’s analysis of first quarter sales has a glass-is-half-full ring to it; sales of periodical comics were down 6% compared to the first quarter of 2008, but graphic novel sales were up, so the combined market only dropped 5%. The strength in the graphic novel market was due overwhelmingly to the Watchmen trade, though; the chart usually drops off pretty sharply from the first place to the tenth, but it was particularly lopsided this month, with 32,132 copies of Watchmen, 14,460 of something that Diamond calls STAND CAPTAIN TRIPS PREM HC BERMEJO ED—sorry I have no clue what that is—and 4,976 copies of Jack of Fables, with the numbers evening out quite a bit after that. It is true, though, that the Naruto-love was spread over several volumes; when there is just one in the chart, sales are usually strong, but I’m sure that the total number sold is higher this way.

If comics stores were the only sales channel for manga, these numbers would be pretty scary, but of course most people are still picking up their Naruto and Furuba fixes in chain bookstores, and I would guess a lot of the mature titles do well online.

Here’s the graphic novel chart with everything but manga pulled out. The first number in parentheses is the book’s ranking on the overall GN chart, the second number in parens is the number of units sold through Diamond.

1. (5) Fruits Basket, vol. 22 (3,961)
2. (7) Naruto, vol. 40 (3,856)
3. (8) Naruto, vol. 38 (3,852)
4. (9) Naruto, vol. 41 (3,836)
5. (12) Naruto, vol. 39 (3,666)
6. (13) Bleach, vol. 26 (3,609)
7. (20) Berserk, vol. 28 (3,194)
8. (31) Naruto, vol. 36 (2,704)
9. (50) Naruto, vol. 37 (1,932)
10. (61) Naruto, vol. 35 (1,696)
11. (67) Tsubasa: Those With Wings, vol. 1 (1,546)
12. (75) Ben Ten Alien Force: Ben 10 Returns, vol. 1 (1,445)
13. (80) Claymore, vol. 14 (1,361)
14. (81) Oh My Goddess, vol. 11 (1,352)
15. (98) Nana, vol. 15 (1,159)
16. (108) Black Cat, vol. 19 (1,080)
17. (115) The Gentlemen’s Alliance +, vol. 9 (994)
18. (119) Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, vol. 3 (987)
19. (124) Samurai Deeper Kyo, vol. 33 (949)
20. (131) A Drifting Life (913)
21. (133) Shaman King, vol. 21 (897)
22. (135) Appleseed: Promethean Balance, vol. 4 (880)
23. (136) Naruto, vol. 1 (872)
24. (144) Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, vol. 2 (809)
25. (164) Kurohime, vol. 10 (723)
26. (165) Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney, vol. 2 (718)
27. (175) Hunter x Hunter, vol. 25 (691)
28. (177) Skip Beat, vol. 17 (687)
29. (178) Sayonara, Zetsubo Sensei, vol. 1 (686)
30. (182) Suzuka, vol. 11 (670)
31. (185) S.A., vol. 9 (654)
32. (188) Bakugan Battle Brawlers, vol. 2 (651)
33. (190) Black Jack, vol. 4 (649)
34. (197) Enchanter, vol. 10 (624)
35. (198) Peace Maker Kurogane, vol. 1 (622)
36. (200) Wild Ones, vol. 6 (620)
37. (206) High School Debut, vol. 8 (607)
38. (207) Black Jack, vol. 3 (605)
39. (211) Hikaru no Go, vol. 14 (597)
40. (213) Dragonball, VizBig edition, vol. 3 (593)
41. (222) Captive Hearts, vol. 3 (569)
42. (226) Lunar Legend Tsukihime, vol. 6 (563)
43. (240) Love*Com, vol. 11 (516)
44. (242) Emma, vol. 8 (515)
45. (246) Love Attack, vol. 6 (509)
46. (249) NG Life, vol. 1 (504)
47. (250) Prince of Tennis, vol. 30 (504)
48. (251) Gin Tama, vol. 11 (494)
49. (258) Mamotte Shugogetten, vol. 4 (488)
50. (259) Yu Gi Oh GX, vol. 2 (486)
51. (260) Shinobi Life, vol. 2 (485)
52. (271) Rurouni Kenshin, VizBig Edition, vol. 5 (455)
53. (276) Star Trek Ultimate Edition (448)
54. (282) Live for Love (440)
55. (285) Monkey High, vol. 5 (437)
56. (289) Mixed Vegetables, vol. 2 (432)
57. (292) Love Knot (431)
58. (296) Way to Heaven (427)
59. (297) Honey and Clover, vol. 5 (426)
60. (300) Clan of the Nakagamis, vol. 2 (421)

I didn’t post yesterday about Amazon’s de-ranking of GLBT books (essentially removing them from all search results) because I didn’t see a direct connection to manga, but some folks have been more investigative about it than me. This post at Jezebel sums up what happened and lists some of the affected books, as well as providing links to a variety of stories on the subject. At Okazu, Erica Friedman has a plausible theory as to what happened and some suggestions for a reasonable response. At Kuriousity, Lissa Pattillo affirms that yaoi and yuri manga were affected, and ero-manga publisher Simon Jones points out the danger of depending on single gatekeeper. The good news is that it looks like Amazon has seen the error of their ways and are in the process of restoring the rankings to most of the books in question.

God Len posts this week’s new releases at Japanator.

The Anime Blog has an overview of recent troubles in the manga market. (Via Anime Vice.)

Gia asks, and her readers answer: Do you read manga digitally? Should more manga have been nominated for the Eisner awards?

If you liked Dragon Ball, perhaps you’ll enjoy these… Jason Thompson rounds up some manga with similar appeal at io9. (Via Robot 6.)

Irene Flores posts some recent sketches. So does Rivkah, who has discovered the joys of brush and ink drawing.

News from Japan: Ed Chavez posts the weekly manga rankings from Taiyosha and the doujin rankings from Toranoana at MangaCast. ANN reports that Love*Com creator Aya Nakahara has a new manga in the works, Berry Dynamite, which will run in Shueisha’s Bessatsu Margaret magazine.

Reviews: Ed Sizemore takes a look at Tokyopop’s licensed manga based on TV sci-fi shows Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek at Comics Worth Reading.

Carlo Santos on vol. 26 of Bleach (ANN)
Dave Ferraro on The Color of Earth (Comics-and-More)
Connie on vol. 2 of Fever (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 23 of Hana-Kimi (Slightly Biased Manga)
Sam Kusek on An Ideal World (Manga Recon)
Carlo Santos on vol. 10 of Lovely Complex (ANN)
Casey Brienza on vols. 1-3 of Menkui! (ANN)
Anna on vol. 8 of Nana (spoilers) (2 screenshot limit)
Connie on vol. 1 of Nora: The Last Chronicle of Devildom (Slightly Biased Manga)
Katherine Farmar on vol. 1 of Slam Dunk (Comics Village)
Tiamat’s Disciple on So I need to lose 15 Pounds (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
David Welsh on Suppli (The Comics Reporter)
Diana Dang on V.B. Rose (Stop, Drop, and Read!)
Danielle Leigh on vol. 1 of Wolverine: Prodigal Son (Comics Should Be Good)
Tom Spurgeon on vol. 1 of Yokaiden (The Comics Reporter)
Johanna Draper Carlson on You Will Drown in Love (Comics Worth Reading)
Gizmo on vol. 5 of Zombie Loan (Kuriousity)

The New York Times Graphic Book Best Seller List is out, and the usual suspects are there—Naruto, Negima, xxxHolic, Fruits Basket—plus a newcomer, vol. 1 of Negima?! neo, a Negima spinoff with obvious appeal to fans of the original. Kevin Melrose of Robot 6 questions the usefulness of the list and Christopher Butcher responds with an explanation of why some lesser-known comics make a single appearance and then disappear.

Relying on a more straightforward data set, Matt Blind lists the top manga series and volumes for March at ComiPress.

Scott Robins interviews Jim Zubkavich of UDON about their new line of kids’ manga at Good Comics for Kids. And Michelle Smith and the rest of the Manga Recon team have a Q&A with Nick Mamatas, who is heading up Viz’s Haikasoru sci-fi novel imprint.

At the Yen Press blog, Kurt Hassler confirms what Lissa Pattillo had already figured out: Yen has “rescued” Pandora Hearts, previously licensed by Broccoli, and has also licensed Jun Mochizuki’s earlier title, Crimson Shell.

Gia made it to the Dark Horse panel at Sakura Con, where she caught wind of a new Blade of the Immortal manga, among other things

Melinda Beasi files a con report from ConBust 2009.

News from Japan: ANN has more details on Rumiko Takahashi’s new manga, Kyōkai no Rinne, which will begin in the issue of Weekly Shonen Sunday that ships on April 22. Publisher Square Enix is posting Hiromu Arakawa’s four-panel gag manga based on her best-known title, Fullmetal Alchemist, online for free. Anime scriptwriter Akinori Endo will launch a historical manga in Kodansha’s Monthly Shonen Magazine starting on May 2. Ribon magazine will feature a new manga inspired by the comedy anime Higepiyo. Berserk is coming off hiatus, and a new Getter Robo manga will launch soon in Young Animal. The Eastern Edge has a sample of Hayao Miyazaki’s new manga, Kaze Tachinu.

Reviews: Lori Henderson celebrates Easter by highlighting manga that have rabbits in them at Manga Xanadu, and the Manga Recon crew post a bumper crop of Manga Minis.

Michelle Smith on vol. 2 of 10, 20, and 30 (soliloquy in blue)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 9 of After School Nightmare (Kuriousity)
Erica Friedman on vol. 2 of Akatsuki-iro no Senpuku Majyo (Okazu)
Scott Campbell on vol. 11 of Battle Angel Alita (Active Anime)
Graeme Flory on Battlestar Galactica: Echoes of New Caprica (Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review)
Scott Campbell on vol. 27 of Berserk (Active Anime)
Connie on vol. 5 of B.O.D.Y. (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vols. 1-7 of Bride of Deimos (Manga Recon)
J. Caleb Mozzocco on The Color of Earth (Blog@Newsarama)
Michelle Smith on vols. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 of Crimson Hero (soliloquy in blue)
Connie on vols. 21 and 22 of Hana-Kimi (Slightly Biased Manga)
Amanda on Heaven’s Will (Blogcritics)
Oyceter on vols. 6-8 of High School Debut (spoilers) (Sakura of DOOM)
Kiara on vol. 1 of Kasumi (Manga Jouhou)
Julie on vol. 6 of Kurohime (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Snow Wildsmith on Love Machine (Fujoshi Librarian)
Amanda on vol. 1 of The Magic Touch (Blogcritics)
Lori Henderson on vol. 3 of Mamotte! Lollipop (Manga Xanadu)
John Thomas on vol. 8 of MPD-Psycho (Comics Village)
Edward Zacharias on vol. 33 of Naruto (Animanga Nation)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 6 of Nightmare Inspector (Kuriousity)
Rachel Bentham on vol. 6 of Our Kingdom (Active Anime)
Melinda Beasi on vol. 1 of Otomen (there it is, plain as daylight)
Julie on vol. 2 of Otomen (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Julie on vol. 6 of The Prince of Tennis (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Connie on vol. 1 of Real (Slightly Biased Manga)
Dan Polley on vol. 1 of Samurai 7 (Comics Village)
Snow Wildsmith on Solanin (Fujoshi Librarian)
Alex Hoffman on vol. 1 of Strawberry 100% (Comics Village)
Grant Goodman on vol. 1 of Tengu-Jin (Manga Recon)
Connie on vol. 1 of We Were There (Slightly Biased Manga)

More Eisner reactions from The Hooded Utilitarian, where Noah Berlatsky says,

So while the lack of manga at the Eisners isn’t a big deal for manga, I think it is maybe a big deal for the Eisners, and for the industry they represent. In short, it’s a sign of a a big, fat failure on the part of American comics. As is so often the case, a snub says more about the quality of the perpetrator than it does about the object of scorn.

You know, I have had the pleasure of knowing at least one of the Eisner judges every year for the past few years. In 2007 and 2008, the committee was graced with two librarians, Robin Brenner and Eva Volin, who read manga, appreciate its worth, and lobbied for its inclusion. Of this year’s committee, I have only recently met John Shableski but I have heard people speak highly of him for years. I believe that John gets the big comics picture. I have never met Andrew Wheeler or Mike Pawuk personally, but I regularly read and link to Andrew’s manga reviews on ComicMix, and Mike is a librarian who has written a book on graphic novels and manga. My point is, I don’t think this group is particularly inbred or anti-manga. On the other hand, in 2007 and 2008, many manga were nominated but few won. I think the true fault lies in the voters, who are not as well read as the committee and vote accordingly, and that comes back to what the Eisners are. People do tend to prefer one type of comics over another, and the Eisners speak to a more traditional crowd.

Take a look at the Best Continuing Series nominations: All Star Superman, Fables, Naoki Urasawa’s Monster, Thor, and Usagi Yojimbo. One of these things is not like the others; Monster is so different in format and concept that I would have a hard time comparing it to All Star Superman. Also, to be honest, manga readers can be as provincial as the Wednesday crowd; I try to branch out a bit, but I haven’t read any of the other series. In fact, Robin Brenner is one of the few manga folks I know who reads superhero comics at all. If the rest of us were handed an Eisner ballot, we would probably just check off the manga, just as the superhero guys would just check off their comics.

(And you know, it’s not entirely our fault, either. I used to read Thor when I was in high school, but when I went to the Marvel website just now to find an image of the nominated comic, I couldn’t make head nor tail of it. The “Browse by Family” feature was useless to me, and the brute-force search turned up nothing that was simply titled “Thor.” You would think that a publisher would want to make their website accessible to newcomers, and maybe even link to the catalog page of the nominated title in their press release, but… no. So here’s a Fables cover instead.)

What to do? I would love to see a separate set of manga awards, but while we wait for that to become a reality, I think the Eisner folks need to rethink the format a bit. The categories seem to be broken down very finely for the Western comics—I say this as a dunderheaded manga reader who can’t tell a good colorist or inker from a bad one—yet all of manga is lumped into a single category. Perhaps it’s time to tease that out a bit and look at awards for best writer, best artist, best toner, most creative monsters, most complicated clothing construction, whatever, for manga. This doesn’t have to be exclusive; there are manga that fit into the traditional categories, so by all means nominate them there, but also acknowledge that we are talking about a different format and mindset than monthly superhero comics and give the manga creators a place to shine. Because really, there’s a lot of great stuff out there, and frankly, I’d rather see anything from Deb Aoki’s list of manga that should have been nominated this year make the cut than yet another Yoshihiro Tatsumi manga.

At Icarus Comics, Simon Jones is OK with manga making a small showing in the Eisners—better we should get our own awards, he says. David Welsh agrees with Simon at Precocious Curmudgeon.

Lori Henderson lists this week’s all-ages comics and manga at Good Comics for Kids, and she spotlights two new kids’ series from Viz: Dinosaur Hour and Leave it to PET!

At Words Without Borders, Dot Lin interviews Adrian Tomine about editing Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s work, including A Drifting Life. (Via Journalista.)

Someone has translated a web manga about Ubuntu into English, and if you know what that is, you’ll probably enjoy it. The rest of us, not so much.

The Hooded Utilitarian is adding a yaoi columnist to their team.

John Jakala points out that manga on an e-book reader could allow readers to toggle between the Japanese and English sound effects. Just sayin’. (Warning: Nausea-inducing animated GIFs.)

Shuchaku East has a new look, and to celebrate, blogger Chloe is giving away a copy of the light novel xxxHolic: AnotherHOLIC. It’s a lovely book, so drop by and do what she says!

News from Japan: A Tokyo woman has been arrested for sending threatening e-mails to One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda. ANN also has the latest comic rankings.

Reviews: EvilOmar presents us with a spring bouquet of brief manga reviews at About Heroes.

A Library Girl on vol. 1 of Antique Bakery (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Erica Friedman on vol. 2 of Hitohira (Okazu)
Bill Sherman on vol. 1 of Hot Gimmick (VizBig edition) (Blogcritics)
Julie on vol. 2 of The Key to the Kingdom (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Snow Wildsmith on Live for Love (Fujoshi Librarian)
Lissa Pattillo on Sweet Admiration (Kuriousity)
Melinda Beasi on vol. 1 of We Were There (there it is, plain as daylight)

Here’s something pretty to get you through hump day: Sho Murase posts some advertising art on her personal blog. Isn’t it lovely?

At PWCW, Kate Culkin has a nice article on The Color of Earth, the first volume of a manhwa trilogy to be published by First Second starting this month.

David Welsh picks the most likely of this week’s new manga.

David Doub interviews Amy Reeder Hadley, creator of Fool’s Gold and brand-new Eisner nominee, at Manga Punk.

Can you make a living on translating manga? Alethea and Athena Nibley, translators of Fruits Basket, contemplate the upside and downside of manga work.

Lissa Pattillo spots some new listings on Amazon, including a sequel to Aimee Major Steinberger’s Japan Ai and a Blade of the Immortal novel.

You know how Matt Thorn says Japanese people think manga characters look Japanese? Well, Noah Berlatsky thinks Superman would look Japanese as well, if we took him out of context.

At About.com, Deb Aoki takes a look at this weekend’s anime and manga cons.

John Jakala is having fun with some images from salaryman comics at Sporadic Sequential.

At Gobblin.net, Jake Forbes has the results of his Return to Labyrinth fake spoiler contest.

News from Japan: Kimagure Orange Road is returning for a one-shot in Super Jump magazine.

Reviews: Deb Aoki does it right with a joint review of vol. 3 of Astro Boy and vols. 1 and 2 of Pluto. Like Deb, I really “got” Pluto after reading Astro Boy.

Lissa Pattillo on vol. 1 of 07-Ghost (Kuriousity)
Casey Brienza on vol. 2 of Akihabara@DEEP (ANN)
Billy Aguiar on Anima (Prospero’s Manga)
Connie on vol. 8 of Bastard (Slightly Biased Manga)
David Rasmussen on vol. 2 of BoBoBo-Bo Bo-BoBo (Manga Life)
Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane on vol. 4 of Captive Hearts (Manga Life)
Michelle Smith on vol. 2 of Click (soliloquy in blue)
Michelle Smith on vol. 3 of Goong (soliloquy in blue)
Connie on vols. 19 and 20 of Hana-Kimi (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kris on vol. 1 of Higurashi When They Cry (Manic About Manga)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of Honey Hunt (Comics Worth Reading)
Connie on vol. 11 of Inubaka: Crazy for Dogs (Slightly Biased Manga)
Danielle Leigh on Hey, Sensei? (Comics Should Be Good)
Melinda Beasi on La Corda d’Oro (there it is, plain as daylight) SPOILERS!
Casey Brienza on vols. 1-3 of Love Pistols (ANN)
Connie on vol. 6 of Lunar Legend Tsukihime (Slightly Biased Manga)
Frank J. Harris on The Manga Guide to Databases (Help Net Security)
Casey Brienza on vols. 1-3 of Psychic Power Nanaki (ANN)
Grant Goodman on vol. 1 of Queen of Ragtonia (Manga Recon)
Emily on Shiroi Jersey ~ Sensei to Watashi ~ (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page)
Lori Henderson on vol. 16 of Skip-Beat (Comics Village)
Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane on vol. 2 of St. Dragon Girl (Manga Life)
Joy Kim on vol. 1 of Step (Manga Life)
Casey Brienza on The Super-Cool Life of Strawberry-Chan (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Julie on vol. 1 of Train*Train (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Casey Brienza on Vidia and the Fairy Crown (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Casey Brienza on You Will Drown in Love (Graphic Novel Reporter)